• Ross Fadner, Dec 29, 2006, 11:01 AM
  • Consumers Prefer to Steal Movies and Other Content Ars Technica Surprise, surprise: a recent study from NPD Group, a research firm covering the music industry, claims that movie downloads using peer-to-peer software and servers is outpacing purchases made from legitimate download services, such as CinemaNow or Apple's iTunes.

    The study, compiled from NPD's VideoWatch tracking software, finds that just 2% of online households purchase movies from movie download services, whereas 8% utilize illegal P2P services.

    For the consumer, there are several compelling reasons to steal content rather than pay for it. First is the cost. Second, the movie download biz fails to offer a single, comprehensive location from which to download movies. Instead, there are several fractious and competing services all struggling to reach agreements with movie producers.

    Digital Rights Management, which prohibits copyright downloads from easily being transferred from one device to another, is both limiting and annoying. Also, seasoned P2P users can easily find higher quality downloads than those being offered by services--and for free. Which is why people steal in the first place. The only solution--to us--is advertising. Read the whole story...
  • New Technology Offer Better Ad Targeting for Small Business Owners Business Week At this point, small-to-mid-sized businesses selling local products or services ought to advertise online. Why? SMB's usually make less money and have lower ad budgets, which makes TV a waste. But search-engine marketing isn't enough, which means small-business owners need to dig a little deeper to get their messages in front of targeted audiences.

    Car wash owners, for example, have businesses that exist "within a five-mile radius." While SEM yields decent results, the same owner laments that his business would benefit through better targeting by specific location. A car wash is an impulse buy, which is why the owner wishes he could reach those who use their cars to do business, like limousine drivers and real-estate agents, who may need a wash between appointments.

    For small-business proprietors like our car wash owner, Skyhook Wireless, a small technology company in Boston, offers software that lets advertisers restrict their ads to users by geographic location, using a technology that identifies the longitude and latitude of anyone using a device with a Wi-Fi antenna. Skyhook's mapping currently covers 70%t of the U.S., and is working on securing deals with Google, Yahoo and other big search engines. Read the whole story...
  • Backdating Scandal Hits Apple's Steve Jobs Financial Times Steve Jobs is in more trouble after an SEC filing revealed that the Apple chief executive was handed 7.5 million stock options in 2001-- without proper authorization from the company's board of directors. Later, records were forged to indicate that a full board meeting had taken place to approve stock option grant.

    The SEC has now to decide whether to pursue legal action against the company or any specific individuals involved in the incident. A regulatory filing indicating the extent of the transgression should be unveiled by the end of the week. In October, Apple and Jobs issued a contradictory statement saying that the CEO had not exercised his options and would instead take a grant of restricted stock.

    More than 160 companies have owned up to stock-option backdating in the last year. While not technically illegal before the passage of Sarbannes-Oxley a few years ago, companies were expected to own up to it.

    Options backdating refers to companies allowing employees to exercise their grants at prior dates that yield more favorable results. Many, including Apple, have not done so until this year, which led to the departure of numerous CEOs. If Steve Jobs and Apple are taken to court for forgery and failure to disclose options backdating, don't expect Jobs to be around much longer at Apple. Read the whole story...